Following a three-week trial, a jury has found bus manufacturer Navistar International Corp. liable in a personal injury lawsuit filed by the widow of Mr. Lewis Nash, a mesothelioma victim who passed away in 2012. Mr. Nash had been diagnosed with the disease only a year earlier.
The suit alleged that Mr. Nash had been exposed to asbestos-containing brakes, gaskets, and clutches during his tenure as a bus driver in the Fayetteville-Manlius school district, which lasted from 1957 until his retirement in 1994. The district, which was not named as a defendant in the lawsuit, used buses manufactured by Navistar International Corp., previously known as International Harvester.
Asbestos was banned in the 1970s, but Navistar continued using the hazardous material in its parts. Mesothelioma, which is primarily caused by long-term exposure to the toxin, has a lengthy latency period, which is why Mr. Nash’s diagnosis was not made for nearly two decades after his retirement. The disease is also extremely aggressive, with less than 10% of its victims surviving for five years following diagnosis. There are approximately 3,000 mesothelioma diagnoses made each year.
Considering Navistar’s obvious negligence, the jury decided to award $7.7 million to the decedent’s family: $3 million for Mr. Nash’s physical pain and suffering, another $3 million for his emotional pain and suffering, $1.5 million to Mrs. Nash for wrongful death, and another $200,000 to his widow for loss of companionship. The total amount is the most ever awarded in an asbestos suit in the Syracuse region.
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